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Clement turned back to his daughter’s bedside and leant over her, feeling a little better now that Neve and Noah were removed from the situation.

“Matylutka. I command you come back to me,” he urged but his words held no true command. He stroked her hair softly from her face and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead as if she were merely sleeping.

“How are you going to fix her?” He turned to Jeremiah who stood on the other side of the bed where she lay. Jeremiah busied himself with his notepad, checking her obs as she lay still, clearly avoiding his Alpha’s question.

“I asked how are you going to fix her?” He asked louder this time, his words heavy and tone raw, the Alpha inside of him showing again. Jeremiah looked up at him with a scowl then flicked his gaze over to Alaya.

“Your presence, Alpha. Her heart rate spikes when she senses your wolf nearby. Please. Try harder to control yourself,” he said as he jotted more down on his pad. A look of deep concern was clear on his face and Clement didn’t like it, it set him on edge. Someone had to know how to fix this, how to fix his little girl.

“Ok,” he breathed, calming the wolf intent on escape. Intent on making someone fix this. An Alpha wasn’t used to feeling helpless.

Clement crouched on the end of his daughter’s bed and continued to stroke her head as she slept. He longed for her mercury eyes to open and meet his, squeezing her shoulder in the hopes that it would miraculously stir her. But it didn’t elicit any response.

“Can you call for her mother,” he asked softly and Jeremiah nodded before leaving the room. Clement remained sat on the edge of the small hospital bed unmoving. He just stared at his daughter, stroking her hair and continuously willing her silently to wake. His wolf felt restless inside of him and pushed at him to pace but he refused. He didn’t want to leave her. Not until she opened her eyes.

Movement behind him called at him to turn but again the need was dismissed, unrelenting in his dedication to Alaya. He was stuck in his own worried bubble. Half of him, the part that was wolf was scared for his pack. The other half was pure, raw, human emotion. Fear for his daughter.

“Clement?” Sophia, Alaya’s mother and his wife called out to him, that one word full of questions and worry. He turned to her and upon seeing all of those questions reflected in her eyes, he was at her side in an instant.

“It’s ok. She will be ok,” he soothed, pulling her into his embrace. Her scent flowed through him, to his very core as he held her.

“What happened to her? Is she sleeping?” Sophia asked as she stepped out of his hold slightly to look over his shoulder. Clement walked slowly over, taking his wife’s hand in his as he pulled her softly to the bed. He didn’t answer the question yet, unsure of how to do so. He didn’t know what had happened to her. Nobody did so far it seemed.

Sophia sat on the side of her bed like he had earlier and he watched as she stroked at their daughter’s hair gently. Her eyes fluttered to the machines as their steady beeps filled the air, Alaya looking like she was simply sleeping.

“She will wake up,” he said gently, mostly to the air and to himself. Sophia turned to him swiftly, glare in her eyes as she spoke.

“Of course she will wake up. What a stupid thing to say.”

“I didn’t mean it like that my love. Don’t worry she will be fine.”

“You only say things like that when there is something to worry about Clement,” she continued, eyeing him with concern now not anger. He forced a smile as he stroked back her hair and shook his head lightly.

“There is nothing at all to worry about my love. Rest is all she needs. That’s all. Its been alot for her these past few days and she hasn’t been looking after herself. A few days away from it all and we will have our Alaya back to us,” he reassured, holding her gaze so she believed what he was saying. He watched as the worry eased from behind her eyes and she nodded, looking back towards where Alaya still lay.

“She will. We’ve only just got her back. I can’t lose her again,” she replied, fear still tinging her words slightly. Clement put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

“We won’t.”

Clement and Sophia both sat with Alaya, steadfast as the flow of doctors and nurses ebbed and flowed throughout the day into the early evening. Clement fought hard to not pressure any of them for answers, Jeremiah’s words from earlier echoing in his mind and silencing his wolf.

As the hours passed he saw Sophia grow tired, a mix of worry and stress no doubt. He knew better than to tell her to go home but it was what was needed right now.

“How about you go check on Alexa and Alana. Both will be home by now and no doubt hungry. If she wakes I will have you brought back in an instant,” he said as persuasively as he could without any pressure. She nodded sleepily before slowly rising, as if her body was stuck in custard, clearly not wanting to leave her eldest in the slightest. She gripped Alaya’s hand as she stood, reluctant to let go.

“In an instant,” Sophia repeated before kissing her daughters forehead and releasing the grip she still held on her hand.

“Promise,” he replied and she smiled over at him, knowing an Alpha never said that word without true meaning behind it. Never promising things that wouldn’t be kept. She walked over to where he was on the chair and kissed him on the forehead, Clement bringing his hand up to hold hers briefly as she walked out.

The moments after Sophia had left them both, Clement waited and watched his daughters breaths. The rise and fall like waves, rhythmic and reassuring. When he trusted they would stay the same he rose from where he had sat and went off in search of Jeremiah.

Clement walked straight down the hallway and towards the front reception, annoyance growing as he failed to see Jeremiah on the incredibly short journey there. Beatrice, a young wolf around Alaya’s age, was sat at the desk. Unsuspecting as he approached but worry filled her eyes as they met his, dropping the blue pen that she had been holding in her hand.

“Alpha. Hi, erm, what brings you here?” she inquired, voice 5 octaves higher than usual. He raised an eyebrow at the question and didn’t reply, waiting for the answer to catch up to her. Instead, she just stared at him like a deer in headlights, green eyes wide.

As the silence stretched out between them, Clement drummed his fingers on the table whilst Beatrice glanced about worriedly.

“Clement?” Jeremiah’s voice shattered the awkwardness as Clement turned towards him and left the front desk. Beatrice sighed in relief as he did before looking across her untidy desk, trying her best to remember what she had been doing before that moment.

“I need to talk to you,” Clement stated as he neared Jeremiah. Jeremiah looked a little busy but that didn’t really affect Clement’s desire to talk. And talk now. Jeremiah glanced down at his watch then back to the clipboard he held in his hand before looking back to Clement, briefly meeting his gaze. He nodded although Clement could tell it was not because he wanted to and could spare the time. It was because he had to.

Jeremiah ushered him into his office that was two doors down from the reception. His name was inscribed beautifully on a gold plate two thirds up the oak door so that everyone and anyone knew where he could be found. Something Clement had completely forgotten earlier. He shook his head at himself and let out a small chuckle at his own absentmindedness as they entered and Jeremiah closed the door behind them.

Jeremiah didn’t sit but motioned for Clement to do so. The pair had grown up together, more brothers than friends as the years passed so Clement sat without a moment’s thought. The anger that had festered inside dissipated when it was just the two of them in this little office. An office that in reality was too small for the head doctor, something that would be rectified at a later date. Clement dropped his head into his hands as stress buckled him.

“Why won’t she wake up?” Ckement asked, half mumbled. He didn’t raise his head to meet Jeremiah’s eyes, too worried that they would be met with concern. And if Jeremiah was concerned then that would in turn cement his own.

“Because she needs rest. Hopefully, once her body has refuelled then her mind will be strong enough to wake,” Jeremiah reasoned as he stood by his desk.

“Hopefully? I can’t work with hopefully. You’re her doctor you need to know how to fix her,” Clement countered, his voice growing louder as fear mixed with frustration. Jeremiah backed up a little but shot him a look of annoyance whilst doing so.

“I’ve said rest. I don’t know why it happened so I can’t tell you for certain exactly what will bring her back. Physically she is fine. The tests have all come back ok so there is something else going on here. Something I’m not seeing. What don’t I know Clement?” Jeremiah asked and Clement hesitated before answering.

“Nothing that could have caused this,” he offered little reassurance because in truth he had no idea whether the lack of phasing or the mating had anything to do with it. He didn’t want to tell Jeremiah everything if it wasn’t remotely necessary.

“I doubt that. Something is causing this state she is in and I doubt you, our Alpha, an Alpha who knows all, doesn’t know even one reason,” Jeremiah continued, not believing Clement’s dumbfoundedness in the slightest.

“I don’t know or I would help her. I didn’t know she was an Omega. I didn’t know about her refusing to phase. I didn’t know about Luther and his attacks. I knew nothing about my own daughter,” he growled as he pushed himself angrily to standing. He strode over to where Jeremiah was still stood and glared, his irises showing the power that he contained. Jeremiah held his gaze for longer than most but dropped it as he backed up, trying to give his Alpha and friend a bit of space.

“I think everyone was shocked at the Ascendant Ceremony. Alaya has never in her entire life, acted submissive. In fact the total opposite. Many thought that she would end up rivalling the strongest Alpha of all time. It didn’t make sense. It still doesn’t.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Clement thought, remembering all the times, even as a young pup Alaya had a fire that couldn’t be contained. There had been times he had tried to force his will a little and she had shrugged his commands off like they were simply suggestions. Omegas cannot do that. They are submissive from the start. And his daughter had never, ever been submissive...

“I’ve got to go,” Clement continued as he briskly walked out the door leaving a very confused friend in his wake.

He didn’t know what was happening to his daughter.

But he had a strong suspicion he knew exactly who did...